Neglect is the failure to provide for a child's basic needs. Neglect can present itself in a number of different ways. This can include:

Obvious Malnourishment

Lack of Personal Cleanliness

Torn or Dirty Clothing

Stealing or Begging for Food

A child left unattended for long periods of time

A need for glasses, dental care, or other medical attention

Frequent tardiness or absence from school

Emotional Abuse is mental or emotional injury that results in an observable and material impairment in a child's growth, development, or psychological functioning. It includes extreme forms of punishment such as confining a child to a dark closet, habitual scapegoating, belittling, and rejecting treatment for a child. Symptoms of this type of abuse can include:

Over compliance

Low self-esteem

Severe depression, anxiety, or aggression

Difficulty making friends or doing things with other children

Lagging in physical, emotional, or intellectual development

The caregiver belittles the child, withholds love, and seems unconcerned about the child's problems

Physical Abuse is physical injury (ranging from minor bruises to severe fractures or death) as a result of punching, beating, shaking, kicking, biting, throwing, stabbing,
hitting, burning, choking, or otherwise harming a child. Such injury is considered abuse regardless of whether the caretaker intended to hurt the child. This can include:

Frequent injuries such as bruises, cuts, black eyes, or burns without adequate explanations

Frequent complaints of pain without obvious injury

Burns or bruises in unusual patterns that may indicate the use of an instrument or human bite; cigarette burns on any part of the body.

Lack of reaction to pain

Aggressive, disruptive, and destructive behavior

Passive, withdrawn, and emotionless behavior

Fear of going home or seeing parents; injuries that appear after a child has not been seen for several days

Unreasonable clothing that may hide injuries to arms or legs

Sexual Abuse includes activities by a parent or caretaker such as fondling a child's genitals, penetration, incest, rape, sodomy, indecent exposure, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials. Symptoms of this type of abuse can appear as:

Physical signs of sexually transmitted diseases

Evidence of injury in the genital area

Pregnancy in a young girl

Difficulty in sitting or walking

Frequent expressions of sexual activity between adult and child

Extreme fear of being alone with adults of a certain sex

Sexually suggestive, inappropriate, or promiscuous behavior

Knowledge of sexual relations beyond what is expected for a child's age